The Percabeth Puzzle
by ATrueHufflepuff13
Summary: A short one-shot about Poseidon and Athena, and the problems Percabeth both causes and fixes on Olympus. (Note: This is not and will never be a Pothema fic.) (Another note: This is chock full of spoilers.)


Quick note: This story takes place during The Battle of the Labyrinth. I do not own The Battle of the Labyrinth or any of the included characters. Hope you enjoy!

~oOo~

Bowling nights on Olympus had always seemed stupid to Poseidon, but Hera insisted that family bonding time was important, so he always showed up. And even if no one ever bowled anything other than a strike, the popcorn wasn't half bad, and the conversations between Artemis and Aphrodite were very interesting.

Things were going as they usually did. The score was 140 all, and everyone was growing bored. Aphrodite was flipping through channels on the big-screened TV. The channels, rather than showing TV programs, showed the sons and daughters of the Olympians, and what they were doing at that moment. Suddenly, Aphrodite let out a shriek. Apollo, distracted, let the ball slip from his hand, and for a second, it rolled toward the gutter. It mysteriously corrected its course to score a perfect strike, of course, but everyone's attention had been diverted to the TV.

The screen showed two demigods, both covered in a grimy mixture of sweat and dust, crouching behind a huge bronze cauldron. The air, shimmering with heat waves, was smoky, and the red glow of magma cast odd shadows across the room.

"Wait," Poseidon said, slowly realizing whose children were on the screen, "Aren't Percy and Annabeth still in the Labyrinth?"

"No Kelp head, Hephaestus gave them an assignment about… two or three days ago," Athena scolded. "Do you not keep up with your own children's progress?" But her attention was obviously on the TV, so Poseidon didn't feel obligated to answer. Truth was, he did TRY to keep up with Percy's quests, but they always got so complicated, what with sub-quests and unexpected turns of events, that he just focused on whether or not Percy was in immediate danger of death.

"Turn on the subtitles, dang it," Athena shouted, grabbing for the remote, "I can't hear a thing they're saying!" Poseidon really didn't understand why Athena was looking so upset. Perhaps the situation was more dangerous than he realized.

"Hey, Hephaestus, where did you send them again?" Poseidon asked.

"Mount Saint Helens, I think. I forgot why."

"You wanted them to find out what creatures were using your forge," Athena said impatiently. She'd finally gotten the subtitles to work. The two demigods appeared to be planning some sort of escape. But that wouldn't explain Athena's tense gaze; isn't she normally all for strategizing? And it certainly wouldn't explain the growing pools of saltwater in Annabeth's eyes. She was certainly smart enough not to take Percy's self-sacrificing distraction strategies seriously anymore. And why was Aphrodite looking so excited?

Poseidon was definitely missing something here. But before his brain could connect the dots, Annabeth had grabbed Percy's face, like a mother telling her child to be brave, and kissed him.

All of Olympus went silent.

A grey 20 pound bowling ball smashed through the starry wallpaper of Olympus's bowling alley, narrowly missing Aphrodite's head, and immediately snapping Poseidon out of his slightly shocked, yet mildly bemused reverie.

"I told you that was NOT OKAY WITH ME," Athena yelled, "I SOUGHT YOU OUT the very DAY my daughter began showing possible romantic attractions toward that doofus, and SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO ALLOW THOSE FEELINGS TO GO ANY FARTHER."

Poseidon felt a bit bad for Aphrodite. It was never a good thing to have Athena as an enemy. Of course, he himself went out of his way to annoy her nearly every day, but they had been enemies since the beginning of time, (more like the beginning of Athens, actually) and that was different. And had she just called his son a doofus?

Aphrodite smiled sheepishly at Athena. "Sorry sweetie, I couldn't help myself. They're just so adorable! I mean, come on. Even ARES ships Percabeth!" Aphrodite cast a meaningful look at Ares, who took the hint, and went into some sort of fit of greatly exaggerated nodding. He immediately switched to shaking his head vehemently as soon as Aphrodite was looking the other way, however, but Aphrodite believed she had made her point.

Smoke began rising from Athena's helmet, and Aphrodite began to look mildly afraid. "Look, he told me it was ok," she defended, pointing at Poseidon, "I go with the highest authority."

"Woah woah woah," Poseidon said, taking several precautious steps backwards, "I don't even remember that. And I definitely wouldn't have agreed to it if I'd known you were against it."

Athena gave him a scornful look. "Oh, of course I know _you_ had nothing to do with it. It probably didn't even take Dite an hour to convince you, you're that gullible. Believe me, if I had even the slightest inkling that you had initiated this, you would know. But as it is, I'm not even going to bother wasting my time with you." Athena glanced up at the TV. "I mean look. Your son is being burned alive by telekhines. And you didn't even notice. What an idiot."

Poseidon's fist clenched, and suddenly, the desperate looking black-haired teenager on the TV was replaced by a rushing bubbling surging wave of water.

Athena glared, unimpressed.

"Okay, it's way obvious that you helped create that giant ocean," she snapped, "and I'm actually shocked that you were dumb enough not to realize that THAT'S TYPHON'S MOUNTAIN."

Poseidon saw red. Everyone else saw an enraged water-and-ice-horse burst out of the drink fountain and knock the goddess of battle to the floor.

Athena sat up, thoroughly drenched, and furious. Poseidon glared at her. "I've changed my mind. I wouldn't have Percy dating your miserable excuse of a daughter in a thousand years." Poseidon was so angry he didn't even bother to walk to the door; he just vaporized right then and there, reappearing back in his underwater castle seconds later.

"She is the most insufferable person I have ever known in my entire life," Poseidon growled, slumping down in his throne. The worst part about arguing with Athena, he thought, was not being able to come up with any retorts. Poseidon sat there fuming for over an hour.

But the lull of the sea was calming, and the familiar feel of cooling saltwater on his skin cleared his head. He mulled over the events of the day. He wasn't really against Percy dating Annabeth. They'd known each other a while. They worked together well. All that important stuff. Athena was against it, but he figured she was just too snotty to like anything related to him. Suddenly, it hit him like a slap in the face. He'd just prevented something Athena didn't want done anyway, because he was mad at her. That made absolutely no sense. He grabbed his cell phone and typed out a hasty text message to Aphrodite. That should fix it.

Having settled the matter, Poseidon called it a day's work, and went to bed.

~oOo~

It was 7:31 the next morning when a dolphin swam in to announce the arrival of Athena. Poseidon expected this, but he was still annoyed. He got up and stomped to the castle gate, flinging it open so hard he nearly caused a tsunami.

He expected a cold "Hello Mr. Grumpy Butt," or maybe even a slap in the face, but the Athena he saw before him didn't seem angry at all. She had a rather relaxed posture, and her face was in its usual unreadable state. Hmm. That was odd. He racked his mind for an explanation, and found none. Why wasn't she upset? Had she changed her mind?

"I'm sorry-" she began, and Poseidon panicked. She was NOT about to apologize. An angry Athena was bad, but this was worse. If she was the one to act mature and fill this Athens-old gap, he would never live it down.

"I'm sorry," he interrupted, lamely. Best to pretend he hadn't heard what she'd started to say. "I should've asked your permission before I gave Aphrodite the thumbs up on Perbaseth or whatever. And I probably shouldn't have done that water-horse thing either." He couldn't quite bring himself to apologize for anything else, so he figured it was enough.

Athena looked shocked. "-sorry it had to come to this," she finished weakly, dropping the axe Poseidon had somehow overlooked. Poseidon flushed. He was an idiot. Athena flushed too, dead embarrassed.

"Er, I wasn't actually going to apologize… " Athena said awkwardly. Her hair looked really funny underwater, and it made the whole situation at least five times worse.

"I know," Poseidon lied. It was a terrible lie; he knew she saw straight through it. They stood there awkwardly for about ten seconds. It was horrible.

"Well… uh… thanks." Athena said. "That was pretty decent of you to apologize. I guess we were being rather foolish." She scratched the back of her neck regretfully. "And I was a bit harsh. So, uh, shall we call a truce?"

Poseidon seriously doubted that they had ever "called a truce" before. But the piercing grey eyes of Athena looked much nicer when they weren't turned upon him in fury. He decided that it would be good to keep them that way.

"Truce," he agreed, and the handshake sealed the deal.

~oOo~

We'd stop here, but for one more issue to be settled.

The Percabeth debate between Athena, Poseidon, and Aphrodite lasted about two weeks, but when they had finished, everyone was somehow satisfied. Aphrodite had her dramatic love triangle, Poseidon had his practical and efficient team, and Athena had her slow and uncomplicated progression of events. (She'd consented to the Percy thing once Aphrodite reminded her of Luke.)

And of course, Percy and Annabeth went on to live a long and happy life together, despite the extreme immaturity of both their parents.

Thank you for reading.

ATrueHufflepuff13


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